European mfrs. to seek probe too
By Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, March 12, 2006
Brussels, Belgium — Furniture makers in Germany and Italy are preparing to file antidumping complaints with the European Commission, accusing China of selling upholstered sofas and other seating at unfairly low prices, according to the newspaper Financial Times.
The formal complaints are expected to be filed in the next two months and would cover a broad range of sofas, kitchen and office chairs made in China.
Germany and Italy, two of the European Union's leading furniture-producing nations, are putting pressure on the Belgian government to join the effort, which could further strain relations between the EU, based in Brussels, and Beijing, already at loggerheads over Chinese textile imports.
Germany and Italy account for about half of the EU's annual furniture production of 117 billion euros. The antidumping complaints, expected to gain government backing in those two nations, likely would pit manufacturers against retailers that rely on cheaper Asian imports.
Trade sanctions also have caused a split between the EU's more liberal northern states, concerned about the growth of protectionism, and Mediterranean countries, where makers of footwear and other goods have been hard hit by Chinese imports.
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